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World Cup: Roof to be closed in an effort to get Poland versus England on

The FA demands that the roof at Warsaw's National Stadium be closed ahead of England's rescheduled date with Poland.

Last Updated: 17/10/12 8:01am

Warsaw National Stadium: Roof was left open on Tuesday, forcing World Cup qualifier to be postponed

Club England managing director Adrian Bevington has revealed that the FA have asked for the playing surface, which was saturated when the decision to postpone Tuesday's original fixture took place, be given the best possible chance of drying out.

Questions have inevitably been raised as to why the roof was not closed in the first instance, with heavy rain forecast, but Bevington insists there was little the English authorities could do about that decision.

"I believe we asked the question yesterday as to whether the roof would be open or closed and we were simply advised that it would be open - which, to be fair, is regular practice whenever you go around the world and you are playing in a stadium that has a roof facility.

"What we are asking for now is for the roof to be closed as soon as it does stop raining, as apparently they can't close the roof until the rain actually stops.

"Once that stops, we have made a very strong request that the roof has to be closed immediately, whatever hour of the night it is, to give the pitch the best protection possible while the ground staff hopefully get it into some kind of order for tomorrow to play the game."

Respect

The 2014 World Cup qualifier has been pushed back to 4pm on Wednesday and Bevington hopes the delay will not prove too problematic for those players that have domestic commitments at the weekend and for those supporters who made the trip to Poland expecting to see their national side in action.

He said: "We are kicking off a little bit earlier so the players can get back.

"I believe we are looking into where we are with the ticketing situation, with those fans who can't attend tomorrow.

"In reality, with what we were faced with tonight, I think FIFA and the match officials have made the right decision."

He added: "I would like to say that the players themselves are gutted for the fans, they have got a huge level of respect for our supporters.

"I don't believe that they had the opportunity to come out to the pitchside before they left the stadium, but that was because we had already got them changed and didn't want to appear as if we were being disrespectful to the decision-making, and the pitch was in such a mess.

"I'm sure tomorrow the players will acknowledge those fans that are able to stay behind and it's important that we stress that those fans that can't be there do have the utmost respect from our players."